Rachel Atherton, only recently returned from a year-long lay-off from mountain biking, sustained another injury while on World Cup duty in Austria, though brother Gee had better luck in Leogang.
Off the back of his home World Cup win in Fort William, Gee was looking to take further honours at the third round of the UCI World Cup Series on June 19–20.
The weather in the practice sessions leading up to the big event had been nothing but appalling, riders battling through the sleet, rain and mud all weekend to get to grips with the 2.6km track. Gee set a solid qualifying time on Saturday to place fifth behind New Zealand rider Sam Blenkinsop – though his run was affected by a crash on the lower section, his speed showed the young Brit would be right up there on Sunday's finals.
With the poor weather continuing into Sunday, all the riders struggled against poor visibility and testing conditions. It was current World Champion Steve Peat who set the early pace, with Gee's older brother Dan just behind – Dan ended the event in 16th place.
'Little sis needs some love from everyone right now' – Gee Atherton on Twitter
Steve's time of 4m 11s looked to be good enough for a podium until Gee's run. Despite making a few mistakes on the middle section, Gee blitzed across the line knocking a massive five seconds off the World Champ's time and putting himself well in the lead. There he stayed until the current World Cup leader Greg Minaar came on track, Minaar could not get close to Gee's first split time, but he made no big mistakes on the remainder of his run, pushing Gee off the lead by just 0.71s. Last rider on the hill, Sam Blenkinsop, could not match either Greg or Gee's time, meaning Minaar took his second World Cup victory of the year.
Gee still sits in second spot in the overall World Cup standings, and will look to claw back some points in a month's time as the series moves to Switzerland.
Meanwhile, in the women's event, the youngest Atherton sibling, Rachel, looked to have the win within her sights as her first split was a huge three seconds up on French rival Sabrina Jonnier, it wasn't to be, however, as Rachel suffered a crash in one of the many technical rooty sections. During the crash, she sustained a dislocated shoulder, a injury she hopes will be sorted by the time the Switzerland race comes around in late July.
For more on Dan, Rachel and Gee, head over to The Atherton Project
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